Alaina Leverenz, MA

Alaina Leverenz (MA, 2020, IUPUI) is a Doctoral Candidate in Communication at the University of Missouri. She studies how families, romantic partners, and friends provide support, enact resilience, and make sense of their complex health experiences particularly through a narrative or metaphor lens. She conducts research with prominent narrative scholars in communication in psychology such as Dr. Haley Horstman, Dr. Robyn Fivush, and Dr. Jennifer Bohanek.  

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Alaina has published in four peer-reviewed journals, two of which are ISI-ranked. These include a first-author publication in ISI-ranked Qualitative Health Research, one in ISI-ranked Health Communication, one in the family communication discipline’s flagship journal (Journal of Family Communication), and a first-author, interdisciplinary piece in Narrative Inquiry. 

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Alaina has presented her research 16 various panels in the Interpersonal, Family, and Health Divisions at the National Communication Association (NCA) Conventions, Central States Communication Association (CSCA) Annual Conferences, International Communication Association (ICA) Conferences, and the Kentucky Health Communication Conference (KCHC). She has received Top Paper awards in the Family Communication Division of NCA and the Interpersonal and Family Interest Group at CSCA. She has also served as a conference submission reviewer for NCA in Applied Communication.